The Dragon Quest franchise has been around for years, but Square Enix made some pretty significant changes to the series with Dragon Quest IX. On top of launching on Nintendo's handheld, it also was unique in that it focused primarily on the multiplayer experience. You could play alone, of course, but DQIX was designed as a platform for friends to play together (though it disappointingly lacked Wi-Fi support). It also had a wide array of classes for players to pick, and handled them in a non-traditional way. Instead of picking a class at the start and then being stuck with it, players could change their class at several points, earning experience and levels for the class type they were playing rather than just for their character overall.

Favorite Memory

When I went to Comic-Con International in Summer 2010, I brought Dragon Quest along with me. Using the game's tag mode, I was able to share data and acquire treasure maps. The messages allowed people to share simple messages, so you know you just got Tycho from Penny Arcade's character in your game. It was cool to walk up to somebody's booth at the con, then look down and realize you've just shared maps with them. Especially because my Level 32 Thief was looking really fly in his cat ears and bright purple pants.